


Less Is More

by raendown



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Tobirama is oblivious, the whole village takes advantage of this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 14:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12278340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: One quick change to his usual attire and it was like everyone else had lost their ability to be normal. Tobirama hated being confused.





	Less Is More

Every single citizen in the village of Konoha knew that there was one time and one time only when Senju Tobirama could be seen in public wearing less than full armor: training. It was also a rather well-known fact that despite his genius he tended to be rather oblivious when people of any gender paid him ‘special attention’. It was sort of cute in it’s own way.

The constant presence of an audience at the training grounds every time he needed a workout continued to baffle Tobirama. It boggled his mind how so many people could have so little to do with their day. Not to mention that it was just strange that they chose to lounge at the edges of the training areas where injury was a very real possibility, especially for the civilians. Yet still they came, every day, sometimes twice a day! His morning workout was always performed under the eyes of at least a small group. Sometimes the grounds were nearly unattended when he came back to train his team, though a crowd always seemed to collect around the edges by the time they were done.

As he might have expected, today was no different. Tobirama headed for the training ground already dressed for exertion, a light kimono shirt thrown overtop to ward off the morning chill. By now he had quite a bit of practice ignoring the indolent strangers loafing around the field and his eyes slid right over them as though they were merely part of the scenery. Even the soft sighs and low giggles as he passed by were given no heed.

His attention focused on those already waiting for him. Madara stood off to one side, arms crossed and face thoughtful, watching as Hashirama and Touka went through a series of warm up stretches. It wasn’t so unusual to see Touka here, though normally it would have been Izuna. He couldn’t go all out against Touka the same way he could against his old rival but it was good to spar against different partners every once in a while to avoid stagnating one’s patterns of attack.

Nothing really seemed too out of the ordinary that morning, which was why Tobirama was so surprised by the sudden deadly quiet in the area when he shrugged off his kimono shirt and tossed it to one side. He raised one arm up above his head, using his opposite hand to pull the elbow across and stretch out the limb as he turned back around to face the others.

Then he stopped with a frown, absently continuing his stretch as he looked around at his three training partners.

“What?”

They were all staring at him – intensely. Hashirama’s jaw appeared to have come unhinged, Madara’s face had been drained of blood yet was rapidly gaining too much back, and Touka was trembling with some repressed emotion he couldn’t identify yet.

“Brother…what…are you wearing?” Hashirama’s voice was so quiet that Tobirama almost had to lean forward to hear him, the exact opposite of his usual volume.

“Wearing?” Tobirama looked down at himself. “You’re the one who gave it to me. You don’t remember?”

“And you _wore_ it?” Touka squeaked out, sounding incredulous. Tobirama lowered his arm, shook it out, and then repeated the stretch with the opposite arm. Off to the side, Madara made a strangled noise and gained a little more blood in his features.

Tobirama tilted his head to one side. “Well yes. It was a gift from Brother.” His second arm lowered and he shook it out to loosen the muscle before giving a brief nod to his sibling. “I appreciate it. You were right, it’ll be much easier to stay cool in this while I train. Much less fabric to keep in the heat.”

Without waiting for a response, he set his hands on his hips and bent backwards a little. He’d slept a little funny last night and his lower back was aching something fierce. As he did so, however, he heard Madara whimper. Straightening back up, he looked over just in time to see the leader of the Uchiha clan begin to tilt slowly backwards. Were it not for the fact that he thought someone else would do something, Tobirama certainly could have been fast enough to break the other man’s fall himself.

No one did though. He stood and watched Madara collapse backwards while both Hashirama and Touka stood right next to him, not paying the slightest bit of attention to what was happening beside them. They appeared more focused on his attire for whatever reason. He really didn’t understand it.

“Is he alright?” Tobirama asked mildly after Madara’s head thumped against the packed earth. Hashirama roused himself just enough to look down at his friend.

“Uhh…” His gaze returned to his younger sibling, head shaking gently from side to side. “I can’t believe you wore it…”

“You’re a walking hazard to the population, Cousin,” Touka managed to say before finally her trembles spilled over in to raucous laughter. He failed to see what exactly was so funny, but then, he very rarely understood her jokes.

“What does she mean?” he asked his brother.

Hashirama bit his lip, the corners of his mouth twitching. “Nothing. Don’t pay her any attention. Could you take Madara to the medi-nin for me? Looks like he’s bleeding.”

Tobirama didn’t see why he had to be the one to take the flailing Uchiha idiot to the hospital but didn’t bother arguing. When he stepped over he saw that his elder had been correct; Madara appeared to be suffering from a spontaneous nosebleed. Strange; he hadn’t seen the man take any sort of blow to the nose or face. The medi-nin would be able to help him, however, so Tobirama didn’t bother worrying too much about the why of the matter.

Madara murmured fitfully under his breath as his arm was thrown across a set of pale broad shoulders. His legs seemed slightly weak when he was hauled back to his feet but he managed to stay standing, leaning perhaps a bit heavily on the one supporting him. After taking one more sideways look at his helper, his unoccupied hand flew up to cup his nose, stemming the fresh flow of blood.

“Hmm, maybe you should put your shirt back on,” Hashirama mused as they began to step away. Tobirama huffed.

“I am wearing a shirt!” he protested. Touka’s cackling slowed just enough to allow her to speak, wiping tears of laughter from the corner of one eye.

“That is half a shirt at best!” she crowed. “Maybe don’t wear any more crop tops to training. It’s a danger to other people’s health!”

Then she was off again, clutching her stomach and doubling over with mirth. Tobirama still didn’t understand but he decided it wasn’t worth the effort of trying to. With a roll of his eyes he walked away, helping Madara off the field. As they passed through the crowd gathered by the edges of the grounds he was distantly surprised by the continued dead silence which met his ears. A brief look around showed him a most worrying sight.

Madara was not the only one suffering from spontaneous bleeding from the nasal cavity. An epidemic seemed to be going around. He wondered if it were a form of sickness or if perhaps he should check for airborne toxins. What could possibly be happening here?

Almost halfway to where the Konoha Hospital was being constructed Madara roused himself and seemed to blink around at his surroundings. Tobirama hummed and the other looked over at him with some surprise.

“Back with the living I see,” he said. “Hashirama made me take you to the medical staff. If you’re feeling better though, perhaps you could answer a question for me.”

“Answer a…question…” Madara wasn’t particularly coherent at the best of times, so Tobirama didn’t think very much of the hesitation in his voice right then either.

“I asked Brother when he gave it to me but he refused to answer for some reason.” He looked down at the shirt which appeared to have caused such a strange fuss. “What is a ‘Boy Toy’?”

Tobirama was most concerned when Madara’s eyes rolled back and he fainted for the second time.


End file.
